Drishyam 2 Review - Ajay Devgn Pulls off An Honest Remake Of A Classic Malayalam Thriller

Ajay Devgn, aka Vijay Salgaonkar, is back to save his family and fool the cops again. As he quotes, "Sach ek din bahar aa hi jata hai," we were all prepared for the body to be found even before watching the film. Mohanlal's Drishyam (2013) was a sensation in Malayalam cinema and in the movie buffs' universe because nobody would have expected a cover-up thriller to be so good and captivating. Nobody would have imagined a sequel to the masterpiece suspense Drishyam had, but then we had Jeethu Joseph and Mohanal's duo pulling off an impossible and unimaginable classic sequel to cult Drishyam. The Hindi remake, Drishyam (2015), couldn't become a sensation and a huge blockbuster at the box office like the original Malayalam flick, but it gained a great fan following in the past 6-7 years. Now, the sequel is finally here, and it's another honest remake like the first one.Drishyam 2 takes place seven years after Sameer Deshmukh's murder mystery, as Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) and his family members are still looking for peace and happiness. Meanwhile, a newly appointed IG, Tarun Ahlawat (Akshaye Khanna), has started to investigate the same case to prove Vijay's crime. Suspended inspector Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant) and Mira Deshmukh (Tabu) try their best to find proof against Vijay to avenge the humiliation and personal loss. At last, the body is found, a few pieces of evidence are collected, and Vijay confesses to his crime. But will that be the end or has the fourth-failed Vijay Salgaonkar got some bigger plans to fool the cops? Go to the nearest movie theatres to know all the answers.Drishyam 2 was an easy script for the makers, as they simply copied and pasted the original source material. I don't know what changes Abhishek Pathak has made, as he claimed in media interviews, except for Gaitonde's addition to the narrative. The Malayalam flick is about the protagonist vs. the new IG, whereas the Hindi remake is about the protagonist vs. 3 cops (Tarun, Gaitonde, and Mira). This seems to have done injustice to Akshaye Khanna's character because the Malayalam flick gave full exploration to that character. The runtime is slightly less, but it didn't feel that engaging at all. Drishyam 2 does have a couple of scenes of its own, though, but nothing more impressive or better than the Malayalam thriller.Ajay Devgn's Vijay Salgaonkar is quite different from Part 1, and rightfully so. The gap of 7 years has to be filled with a few changes in appearances, and Ajay wore all the changes very well. Those intense eyes are at work again. Shriya Saran gives a top-notch performance, and Tabu is amazing in whatever few scenes she has. Ishita Dutta has grown up as a character, but it reflects on her performance too. I was expecting more from Akshaye Khanna, but he was slightly underwhelming. Mrunal Jadhav, Prathamesh Parab, and Saurabh Shukla barely appear to be noticed, whereas Kamlesh Sawant's Gaitonde still leaves the same impact. Overall, the acting unit has done fairly well, but the potential was greater because this was a performance-oriented film.We always say that an ideal suspense thriller shouldn't have songs and a runtime of over 100 to 110 minutes. Hollywood understood it in the 30s only, when they started making talkie cinema, but the techniques, storytelling, and viewing consumption have indeed evolved over the years. Drishyam 2 is neither songless nor less than 2 hours long, yet it doesn't feel boring. Don't know how, but the film has actually managed to do it. Malayalam Drishyam 2 did look longer, but it was a proper cinematic experience, which forced the viewers to overlook the length. The Hindi remake tries to work on the issue but doesn't add up to anything effective. The technical aspects are nice, be it cinematography, editing, or the background score.

Abhishek Pathak is promising in his second film, but I think he has a lot to learn, especially in the cinematic sense of storytelling. You remember the courtroom scene in the Malayalam flick when the judge says it and the camera goes zooming in on George Kutty with slow motion visuals and a staggering background score? That was a damn classy frame. Believe it or not, but Abhishek Pathak has missed it here. Yes, you heard it right—he missed the best moments from the classic thriller while remaking it in Hindi. Jeethu kept it intact even in Venkatesh's Telugu remake, but Pathak just couldn't understand what it actually meant. He missed many important pauses, too. As you know, copy-pasting a story or film is easy, but copying somebody's vision is not possible. Drishyam 2 Hindi remake might prove it to you. Except for a few faults like this, there is nothing majorly wrong with the Drishyam 2. And like he says, hero to aakhir me jeetna chahiye! We all enjoy that.